Throckmorton Water Supply Remains Low Despite Recent Rains
By: Ryan Robertson, TexomasHomePage.com
Updated: March 13, 2012
Even with the recent rains, Lake Throckmorton is low.
The lake is the main water source for Throckmorton residents, and because of the low levels, city leaders said stage three water restrictions will continue.
"When people don't have water, it becomes a starvation type mentality," said Mayor Will Carroll. "People have become accustomed to saving water, it becomes a way of life. It's not a difficult thing to do."
Under stage three restrictions, residents are allowed to water their yards on two designated days during the week.
Also, the city stops watering the golf course, leaving the greens a little brown.
However Throckmorton has a resource many Texoma towns don't: an emergency pipeline that can pump in water from Graham.
"If it comes to the point where we need to use that," explained Carroll, "we can get up to 160,000 gallons a day, which is more than enough to sustain adequate life."
Throughout the winter, the water level at Lake Throckmorton remained steady at about 35 percent. City officials said the decision to pump in water isn't necessarily related to how low the water is, but how much it would cost to treat it."
"You get to a certain point when your lake is so low, that it takes a lot more chemical to treat the water," said Casey Chambers, the Director of Public Works in Throckmorton. "There's a point when you have a hard time treating it when it gets so low it's just more cost effective to go the other way."
If Throckmorton does have to pump in water, Mayor Carroll said the City will do everything it can to keep water rates the same.
"If we start mixing that water and find out we can use the same charges that we're charging now," said Carroll, "then we will stay."
The lake is the main water source for Throckmorton residents, and because of the low levels, city leaders said stage three water restrictions will continue.
"When people don't have water, it becomes a starvation type mentality," said Mayor Will Carroll. "People have become accustomed to saving water, it becomes a way of life. It's not a difficult thing to do."
Under stage three restrictions, residents are allowed to water their yards on two designated days during the week.
Also, the city stops watering the golf course, leaving the greens a little brown.
However Throckmorton has a resource many Texoma towns don't: an emergency pipeline that can pump in water from Graham.
"If it comes to the point where we need to use that," explained Carroll, "we can get up to 160,000 gallons a day, which is more than enough to sustain adequate life."
Throughout the winter, the water level at Lake Throckmorton remained steady at about 35 percent. City officials said the decision to pump in water isn't necessarily related to how low the water is, but how much it would cost to treat it."
"You get to a certain point when your lake is so low, that it takes a lot more chemical to treat the water," said Casey Chambers, the Director of Public Works in Throckmorton. "There's a point when you have a hard time treating it when it gets so low it's just more cost effective to go the other way."
If Throckmorton does have to pump in water, Mayor Carroll said the City will do everything it can to keep water rates the same.
"If we start mixing that water and find out we can use the same charges that we're charging now," said Carroll, "then we will stay."
